A post-club 4am kebab may not be on the menu, but at 7pm on the sofa it still tastes fine
It seems to have been a while since times were ‘precedented’ and so when Dish Detective stumbles upon something from normal life, it feels like a distant memory from a far away place. In the before, Saturday nights started with a porn star martini and ended slightly worse for wear, perched on a pavement, kebab in hand. Ah, bliss...
But now dear reader, Saturdays start with a porn star martini in a tin from my essential weekly shop and end with a Netflix binge in the same spot on the sofa that began my weekend – not a pavement or kebab in sight.
Now, the pavement I can do without (think of the Covid germs) but the kebab I can still get my hands on.
Steki Taverna on Osborne Road is the answer to my lockdown dreams.
My partner and I usually like to share food so we can sample as much of the menu as possible but we have done quite enough sharing of the same square footage for months on end so we get a mixed grill platter each.
It comes with chicken and pork souvlaki, loukaniko sausage and gyros pork with salad, pita bread and chips (£26.50 for two).
We add a tzatziki dip – which as notsober-me will tell you is a risk when you are balancing your meal on a wall at 3am, but at home with the aid of a coffee table, a tzatziki dip is just the ticket.
And the warm, soft pita bread accompanying the aforementioned dip is a perfect start to the meal.
The souvlakis are where I start in my navigation around the mixed platter and they do not disappoint. They too are dipped in the tzatziki and the spices mixed with the yoghurty goodness is divine.
My partner is also equally enamoured with the souvlaki. I can tell, because for once he isn’t talking.
The loukaniko sausage is a winner for him also, but for me it is a bit too peppery and I gift him my Greek weiner.
For me the gyros pork harks back to the doner kebab but it seems a bit more upmarket, a boujee (derived from the French ‘bourgeois’) doner kebab.
The main point is it tastes great – fatty, but in a good way – and skewered on a fork with a handful of chips feels like heaven, even if the meal does feel a bit pricey for a takeaway.
A dessert to end a night out is not usually my jam, having just downed the equivalent of 20 spoons of sugar in the form of cocktails, but the Greeks know how to do a sweet treat and as it is a night in – sans cocktails –we have added a slice of baklava to our order (£3.90).
If you don’t know about baklava, it is sweet pastry soaked in butter and honey syrup and stuffed with chopped walnuts – need I say more? If I do, I have never met a baklava I haven’t loved and Steki’s is no exception.
The Saturday nights out I used to know may stay a (socially) distant memory for now but I know I can relive the good old days of eating kebabs on a pavement at 4am, on my sofa, at 7pm, thanks to Steki Taverna.
I have never met a baklava I haven’t loved and Steki’s is no exception